MALTA\\\


Margins under pressure as shippers count the cost


Last year was one of BAS Malta’s best of the past decade, in general manager, Ray Buttigieg’s opinion. The company – which represents DHL’s global forwarding arm on Malta – saw slightly decreased but still healthy airfreight volumes in 2012, but its seafreight and trailer business also did well, not least because some air business transferred to the other modes. Air freight rates are under


pressure from trailer operators. These days, shippers are counting the pennies and many are questioning whether it is worth paying a large premium to save perhaps one or two days. “For


example the


pharmaceutical manufacturers here tried seafreight to the US,” he says. It all depends on stock levels – if they are high, the pharma


firms will switch to sea and save themselves the cost of airfreight, which can be pretty heſty these days with all the fuel and security surcharges. European shippers have


switched some business to trailers and DHL can offer a weekly service from Italy which, picking up on Friday can arrive on Tuesday – not so very much slower than airfreight. Connections are also available via Milan to Spain, Portugal and France. There is also a weekly trailer


service from Antwerp. This used to be a container consolidation and it is possible that it might revert back to this mode, depending on the rates, says Buttigieg. That said, there are still


reasonable air freighter services to and from Malta, considering


the small size of the market. DHL Aviation has a Tuesday to Friday freighter to Brussels (on Mondays it goes to Marseilles) and Air Malta has its Sunday freighter to Frankfurt. Bridges Worldwide also operates small freighters, mainly for the benefit of the courier industry. Luſthansa stopped its own freighters a while back but still offers useful daily passenger bellyhold capacity to Frankfurt, as does Emirates to its Dubai hub. Like other agents, Buttigieg


supports the idea of a cargo village at Malta airport in principle, but it would need to be at “a normal commercial price”


and ideally


should offer warehousing as well as office space. “If we had the warehouse facilities, then we could attract more business to Malta as a transit point,” Buttigieg explains.


New home for Virtu Ferries


Virtu Ferries’ brand new terminal building


at Valletta’s Grand


Harbour is now fully operational; otherwise it is pretty much business as usual, says freight manager Alan Cordina. The fast ferry operator introduced its large Jean de la Valette catamaran on the Malta-Sicily route three years ago and it has been busy increasing freight traffic in what is quite a competitive market. The staple of Virtu’s freight


traffic are own-account operators visiting suppliers in Sicily and many of these, having started with small vans, have progressed to


larger trucks. These complement similar, but much larger clients who bring in regular supplies in full sized trailers. Perishables and other urgent business is particularly important. “Malta imports practically everything it consumes,” Cordina explains. Virtu concentrates on


accompanied traffic, which is more compatible with the schedule’s short turn-round times in port. Being able to offer the facility to travel to Sicily, do a day’s business and be back in Malta the same evening, or vice-versa from Sicily on the twice or three times


weekly double voyage days, is more important to most of its freight customers. Virtu steps up to virtually a


daily schedule in summer – very frequent by Malta’s standards – and fortuitously this is also the time of peak freight demand. Cordina reckons that


passenger and freight revenue compliment each other nicely – which is quite unusual for a fast ferry operator. Freight, although seasonal, fluctuates much less according to season or the day of the week than the passenger business does.


“For example, if an Indian generic pharma manufacturer was doing a big launch in Europe or North Africa (usually timed to coincide with a patent expiry) they could import it from there and forward it on on the appropriate day – if we had a suitable reefer warehouse.” It might be possible to run a similar operation from the Hal Far groupage terminal – which is not many miles from the airport – but under current regulations the facility can’t be used for long- term storage, although apparently discussions have


taken place


with the groupage operators’ association about changing this. “But that said,” Buttigieg continues, “we would still prefer an airport operation – having airside access would make all the difference.”


Issue 4 2013


Italian firms finds island niche


Norman Clews, former manager of cargo sales at national carrier Air Malta, has set up the Malta general sales agency for Italian- based XPH. The Italian company, which is already active in handling and operates a string of airport warehouses in its home country, is moving into GSA work at a number of airports in other countries, including Malta, Tirana in Albania and Kiev. In Malta, XPH will represent


Alitalia and also Thomas Cook airlines.


It is also a ‘preferred


agent’ for Libyan Airlines and is a regular user of DHL Aviation freighters from Malta to Brussels. Offline airlines include OK Czech Airlines, SN Brussels, Air Baltic and Caribbean Airlines. Norman Clews said: “A year aſter


starting operations, we are already handling about 250,000 kilos a year.” His aim, he added was to be


23


“solely a GSA” and offer a neutral service to freight forwarders, rather than dilute the GSA work with forwarding business which, he argues, would only serve to alienate other forwarders. The small size of the Maltese market means that many agents are tempted to add forwarding work but this can lead to conflicts of interest. XPH Malta is looking for


other airline representations, particularly to the Far East and Australasia, he told FBJ. Meanwhile, Luſthansa’s former


cargo chief in Malta, Tony Mifsud, has joined Air Malta as head of cargo marketing and sales. And Antonio Dines has


meanwhile taken over the German carrier’s cargo sales in Malta., Based in Florence, Dines runs a combined territory covering the island and eastern Italy.


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